A call center handles large volumes of requests by telephone or other similar communication technologies. For instance, these call centers are established to provide support and/or information to callers regarding products and/or services. The call center may be operated by the company associated with the product or service, or a third party assigned to provide customer support. As an advantage, collective handling of calls throughout a network of workstations manned by service representatives or agents promotes a hands-on approach when dealing with customers in that the call center is configured to enable a large number of calls to be handled on a personal basis.
In one implementation, an inbound call center manages incoming calls to provide services to incoming callers. For example, an inbound center may provide support to complete a sale, handle issues and problems with products (e.g., installation instructions, warranty service, etc.), handle calls related to services (e.g., banking, collections, police, fire, alarm, etc.), and other similar types of services.
In another implementation, an outbound call center initiates calls. For instance, the center may be configured to provide telemarketing for a product or service, enable the solicitation of charitable or political donations, provide debt collection services, perform polling or market research, etc.
Many individualized call centers are centralized to provide space for many agents. For example, a larger call center may support hundreds or thousands of workstations in a single building or campus of buildings. In that manner, maintenance and installation of all of the infrastructure (e.g., computers, workstation cubicle, etc.) is centralized.
The call center may represent a third party client, wherein the agent handles calls from customers on behalf of the third party client. As such, the agent may be authorized to access privileged client information using the client's databases. For example, the client may be a banking institution and the agent is handling a call to help a customer determine their account balance. In that case, the agent can access the customer's personal data controlled by the banking institution to provide an account balance.
However, there are instances where the agent is accessing privileged customer information when there is no legitimate need. That is, while a call center agent inherently has authorized access to personal and identifiable information, the agent should only use this access on a need to access basis. When fraudulent activity is occurring, not only may the agent be gathering critical personal information through unauthorized access, but that information may be later used to commit additional fraud (e.g., applying for credit, making purchase transactions, etc.).
What is needed is a way to combat fraud within a call center.